As the tribe continued to march forward, cutting through the eerie city streets littered with the remains of the Fleshers and strange creatures, one of the members cautiously approached Lyerin.


    His hands trembled as he spoke, his voice shaky with fear.


    "D-Did you know about that creature? How would it emerge from the ground like that? It was as if you expected it…"


    He stopped mid-sentence, feeling the sudden, overwhelming chill in the air as he met Lyerin''s gaze.


    There was something terrifying about the calm in Lyerin''s eyes, an unsettlingposure that seemed to hint at an awareness far beyond what anyone could fathom.


    The tribe member''s heart pounded in his chest as he quickly looked away, now regretting having asked the question. New chapters at m v|le|mp|yr


    Lyerin smiled, his lips curling into a cold, knowing grin.


    "You''re not true members of the tribe yet," he said, his voice smooth but tinged with a warning.


    "There are many things I know that I choose not to share. Secrets are the currency of power, and only those truly bound to the Stonehooves Tribe will understand."


    His tone was calm, but the implication was clear.


    They were expendable until proven otherwise.


    The tribe member backed away, bowing his head and returning to his ce in the group, still shaking.


    The others had overheard the conversation, and though no one else dared speak, a nervous tension spread through the group.


    The realization that Lyerin held secrets—potentially deadly ones—added anotheryer of fear to the already overwhelming danger surrounding them.


    They didn''t have much time to dwell on their unease, however, as grotesque beasts began to attack from all directions.


    Strange, twisted creatures that seemed to defy naturalw burst forth from cracks in the pavement, dark alleys, and even from within the crumbling remains of buildings.


    The air was filled with the sounds of snapping jaws, screeching roars, and the flurry of movement as beasts charged at them with reckless abandon.


    Their bodies were misshapen, some with multiple limbs, others with elongated necks or grotesque, gaping mouths full of jagged teeth.


    The chaos was immediate.


    "Watch out!" a tribe member yelled as a serpent-like beast lunged from the shadows, its fangs dripping with venom.


    Another creature, this one resembling a giant spider with wings, skittered out of a nearby alley, sending two of the tribe members stumbling back in horror.


    "They''re everywhere!" one of them screamed, eyes wide with terror.


    "Stay together! Don''t panic!" Corora shouted, trying to rally the group as they frantically fought off the encroaching horrors.


    But Lyerin, riding atop his Pig Orc, remained unnervingly calm. He knew exactly what was happening.


    The Asura race was behind this.


    They had slowed the absorption of Earth by the Eldritch Universe, and now they were sending these creatures—twisted animals mutated by the energy of the Eldritch Gxy—to create a perfect battleground.


    It was a test, a way to assess the worth of Earthlings due to Lyerin and his tribe.


    The Asura race always chose the strongest worlds, the most cunningbatants, to slow and challenge.


    Winning the survival game had made the Earth, especially Lyerin and the Stonehooves Tribe a prime target for the Asura''s younger generation.


    This was just the beginning.


    He knew the true elites of the Asura race hadn''t even arrived yet.


    What they faced back in the survival game were the mere rejects—the champions of the rejects or those not fit to stand as champions.


    But Lyerin said nothing of this to his tribe. He let them fight.


    He let them fear.


    One of the tribe members, now cornered by a hulking beast with three heads and scythe-like arms, let out a terrified scream as the creature raised its limbs to strike.


    Panic gripped the tribe as the member seemed moments away from being torn apart.


    "Help! Someone, please!" he cried out, voice shrill with desperation.


    Lyerin, watching from the back, lifted his hand casually. "Pig Orcs," hemanded, his voice cool and devoid of emotion. "Save them."


    In an instant, the massive Pig Orcs charged forward, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground as they barreled through the battlefield.


    They swung their clubs with brutal efficiency, smashing through the attacking beasts with ease.


    The three-headed creature was obliterated in a single blow, its body crumpling into a heap of mangled flesh.


    The tribe member who had been cornered copsed to the ground, gasping for breath as he looked up at Lyerin in awe and fear.


    "Keep moving," Lyerin ordered. "There will be more."


    The group, shaken but still alive, continued to push forward, now more terrified than ever of both the creatures around them and the man leading them.


    Lyerin seemed to be inplete control, not just of the Pig Orcs, but of the entire situation.


    He knew what wasing.


    He knew how to deal with it. And that only made him more terrifying.


    Suddenly, as they cut through another wave of creatures, a familiar chime echoed in Lyerin''s mind.


    Ding!


    | You have made your tribe members'' loyalty level up to 20. |


    A small smile crept onto Lyerin''s face as the notification appeared before his eyes.


    The constant danger, the fear, the tests—they were all paying off.


    His tribe was bing more loyal, more dependent on him.


    With each beast they fought, with every moment they survived under hismand, their ties to him grew stronger.


    He had earned their fear, and now, slowly, he was earning their loyalty.


    The Asura race may have sent these creatures to test him, but it was doing more than that.


    It was shaping his tribe into something far more powerful than they could have imagined.


    Lyerin chuckled to himself, watching the battlefield with cold amusement. "Haha this is it," he whispered to himself, eyes gleaming with anticipation.


    As the group continued to push through the streets, the members of Lyerin''s tribe were oblivious to the true reason behind their venture.


    While they had been told they were out to cleanse the city of the monsters, he also knew after winning, the monsters would emerge from all over the ce—the Asuras were sending, the reality was far more twisted.


    Lyerin had orchestrated this entire situation to manipte them, to increase their loyalty to him through subtle fear and false hope.


    Every choice he''d given them earlier—the option to stay or leave, the promises of safety—had been nothing more than a charade.


    He nced at the faces of the tribe members as they hacked away at the beasts that continued to pour out from the shadows.


    Their expressions were a mix of fear, determination, and confusion, but most importantly, they were looking to him for guidance.


    They were relying on him for their survival, and that was exactly what he wanted.


    Every monster they fought, every moment of desperation they experienced, was carefully calcted to bring them closer to him, to make them feel that he was their only chance at survival.


    Lyerin''s grin widened as he watched them fight.


    His little scheme was working perfectly.


    The choices he''d given them before?


    Utter bullshit.


    They had never truly had a choice.


    He couldn''t risk losing any of them to real freedom.


    Instead, he needed to draw them in deeper, make them believe they were free while subtly tightening his control over them. And fear—used in just the right way—was the perfect tool.


    As the tribe battled through yet another wave of grotesque creatures, their exhaustion began to show.


    One member, panting heavily, wiped sweat from his brow and looked around with uncertainty.


    "What is this all for?" he muttered under his breath. "Are we really just cleaning up these streets for survival? Or is there something more?"


    But before anyone could question further, Lyerin''s voice cut through the air.


    "Good work, everyone!" he said, his tone calm and authoritative.


    "You''ve all done well." He took a few steps forward, surveying the scene as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.


    "You''re all level thirty now."


    The members of the tribe looked at each other, bewildered.


    "Level thirty? What does that even mean?" one of them whispered to another.


    They had no idea what Lyerin was referring to, but they were too afraid to ask.


    His power, his control over the situation, was something they dared not challenge.


    Lyerin, suppressing augh, enjoyed the confusion in their eyes.


    Of course, they had no clue.


    They didn''t understand that all of this—the monsters, the chaos, even their supposed victories—had been part of his grand n to bind them to him more deeply.


    Their loyalty had reached new heights without them even realizing it.


    "All right," Lyerin said casually, "time to head back."


    He turned on his heel, motioning for the Pig Orcs to gather the tribe members and prepare for their return.


    As the group began to move, some still visibly shaken from the battles they had faced, Lyerin allowed himself a small chuckle.


    The Asuras thought they were testing him and his tribe. But the real test wasn''t for Lyerin—it was for the tribe members, and they had no idea that they had already failed.


    Or seeded, depending on how one looked at it. They were now more bound to him than ever before, and there was no escape.


    Lyerin''s eyes glimmered with satisfaction as he led his tribe back through the ruined streets.


    His n was working perfectly, and the best part was, they didn''t even know it.